NASHVILLE, TN - Vanderbilt University Medical Center gave in to a public pressure campaign to end all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on Wednesday afternoon, just a day after receiving a letter from Tennessee’s Republican senator, Marsha Blackburn, accusing the hospital of “concealing” the DEI work.
In a statement from the university hospital, it said it intends to fully comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order.
“Vanderbilt University Medical Center is eliminating all DEI programs and is fully complying with Executive Actions on DEI,” the statement said. “Shortly after the Executive Orders were issued, VUMC began removing related content on internal and external websites to reflect the termination of these programs. VUMC will continue to comply with federal mandates and directives.” Click here to read more.
WASHINGTON D.C. - Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced the closure of the Global Engagement Center as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the “censorship-industrial complex.”
“Today, it is my pleasure to announce the State Department is taking a crucial step toward keeping the president’s promise to liberate American speech by abolishing forever the body formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio wrote in an op-ed for the Federalist, titled, “Rubio: To Protect Free Speech, The Censorship Industrial Complex Must Be Dismantled.”
Rubio wrote that, in 2016, the Obama administration changed the GEC’s focus on combatting international terrorism cover any and all “foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts.”
The Secretary of State said that GEC was an “enthusiastic partner” in the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) which monitored alleged disinformation about the 2020 election. Click here to read more.
WASHINGTON D.C. - The mainstream media has ignored the autism “epidemic,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday at his first press conference.
“This epidemic denial has become a feature in the mainstream media,” Kennedy said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest study found that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder diagnoses had increased from 1 in 36 eight-year-olds to 1 in 31 from 2020 to 2022, according to figures published by the CDC on Tuesday.
The environmental lawyer-turned presidential candidate-turned secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services said he ordered the National Institutes of Health to study environmental factors, exposures, and external factors that could cause autism. By September, we will know the cause of autism, he has said.
“This is an individual tragedy as well,” Kennedy said. “Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which are children. These are children who should not be … suffering like this.” Click here to read more.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida experienced the largest decline in the number of abortions provided in 2024 among states without total abortion bans, following the implementation of the six-week Heartbeat Protection Act in May of that year, according to a new report.
The report, part of Guttmacher’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study, estimated that Florida saw 12,100 fewer abortions in 2024 compared to 2023—marking the most significant year-over-year drop of any state without a total ban.
Florida’s law, which went into effect midway through 2024, drastically curtailed access not only for Floridians but also for individuals traveling from nearby states.
Gov. Ron DeSantis officially signed the law in 2023. It was brought through the legislature by Sen. Erin Grall, and Reps. Jenna Persons-Mulicka and Jennifer Canady.
Despite Florida’s decrease, the overall number of abortions in U.S. states without total bans remained relatively steady, rising slightly from 1.03 million in 2023 to 1.038 million in 2024—an increase of less than 1%.
The proportion of people traveling across state lines for abortion care declined slightly, from 16% to 15%. Click here to read more.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich - Dr. Kent Wildern, a dentist with a 40-year career providing care in Grand Rapids, is challenging a mandate that requires all Michigan healthcare professionals to undergo ideological training to maintain their licenses. In 2021, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) implemented new rules that compel over 400,000 healthcare professionals to complete two hours of implicit bias training every renewal cycle.
“It is unconstitutional for Michigan to weaponize its licensing powers to force healthcare professionals to choose between their careers and submitting to ideological indoctrination,” said Wilson Freeman, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “Moreover, Michigan’s mandate for implicit bias training came from an unelected agency rather than the legislature, sidestepping any public debate on the issue.” Click here to read more.
